


The Anomalistic Account of Ophelia Jane

by Sophie_21



Category: Original Work
Genre: High School, Mystical, Other, Short Story, east coast, ghost - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-28
Updated: 2018-02-28
Packaged: 2019-03-21 00:11:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13728996
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sophie_21/pseuds/Sophie_21
Summary: Ophelia Jane Rosewood died at the age of seventeen on November 21, 1923. That fall was warmer than usual, almost lukewarm compared to the frigid temperatures and biting wind chills that normally plagued Massachusetts during the late fall. Although it was a warm year, It was the snow that the Rosewood family later associated with the death of their late daughter.It is now 93 years after Ophelia's death and her soul is still attached the her hometown. Ophelia now has friends and a life, but when her time abruptly comes to an end, she has to learn to let go.-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------This is a short story I wrote originally for my English class and decided to post it on here. It is inspired by Maggie Stiefvater's The Raven Cycle and I hope you like it. This is my first post (ahhhh I can't believe i'm doing this) and feed back is 100% welcome.





	The Anomalistic Account of Ophelia Jane

Depending on where you started, this is a story about a girl who once was.

Ophelia Jane Rosewood died at the age of seventeen on November 21, 1923. That fall was warmer than usual, almost lukewarm compared to the frigid temperatures and biting wind chills that normally plagued Massachusetts during the late fall. Although it was a warm year, It was the snow that the Rosewood family later associated with the death of their late daughter. 

Ophelia was a stunning and truly irreplaceable girl, who of which everyone she came across said would do extraordinary things. She did in fact end up doing something astonishingly remarkable, though it wasn’t quite what you would expect. 

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Now a not so amusing 93 years later and Ophelia is still in Massachusetts, her hometown Weston to be exact, though none of her family remains. Ophelia is Currently in AP biology, working with her best friend and only accomplice Adeline in her mission to find out why the fuck she is here right now. 

Adeline is the only person who knows that she, Ophelia Jane Rosewood is a ghost. A GHOST! Ophelia’s existence is a mystery that both girls just can’t seem to solve. The girls have known each other since Adeline was fifteen and Ophelia was well… she was 17 and a few decades old. 

Today they are in an AP biology class at the Westfield Preparatory School testing a theory that goes way over any sane person's head.   
Sadly the class is cut short when a soft buzz then click is heard over the intercom. The deep authoritative voice of the school’s headmistress floods the room of honors students making everyone stop their work.

“Good afternoon girls and sorry for the interruption,” the woman's voice rasped over the intercom, “these are your end of the day announcements…”  
Ophelia didn’t pay attention to the rest of the announcements, she just sat at her seat and impatiently rapped her almost perfectly manicured nails against her books while glaring at the clock daring it to be even a second off.

As the bell rang the two girls leapt from their seats with the reaction time of olympic swimmers, ignoring the professor as he reminded the class of the research paper that would be due next week. This reminder went unnoticed to the class, the words going in one ear muffled and garbled like the peanuts cartoon, and out the other ear.  
Escaping the school was a feat all in it’s own, the girls weaving in and out of students squealing, laughing, complaining and crying around them. They thought it would be quiet, though once they emerged through the heavy wooden doors of the east campus building this was not the case because a small army of girls were surrounding two figures in the parking lot. These figures were none-other than Sawyer Hawthorne and Caspian Bishop. 

Adeline and Ophelia quickly made their way through the group of girls only elbowing a few in side. The two girls didn’t care, all they wanted was to get the twerps and go back to the old manufacturing plant where Ophelia was currently residing along with her small group of friends: Sawyer, Caspian, Adeline, Remy, Landon, and Wesley.

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The four teens met up with the other half of their clique at a local Chinese food joint. They were sitting in a large corner booth when Ophelia noticed a snowflake flutter down to the ground just outside the window.

“Hey Rem,” Ophelia turned to the group and looked skeptically at Remmy. “Was there snow on the forecast?”  
Remy looked back at Ophelia, cutting off mid sentence in her conversation with Sawyer. “No, I don’t think so, Why?” Remy replied quizzically. “Is it snowing?” the girl asked giddily, leaning over the table to pear outside. Ophelia still entranced by the snow now coming down much denser than before, looked at Adeline with what could only be described as terror in her eyes when Remy stated disappointingly that the snow didn’t seem to stick and would probably be gone by morning. “That’s too bad, I really wanted to make snow angels.”

“Hey, are you okay?” Wesley looked at Ophelia with complete concern filling his eyes. 

Ophelia physically blanched and quickly stood up, almost knocking a cup of water over before fleeing from the restaurant. Crisp air bit at her cheeks as she ran. She knew she would have to go back eventually and explain her odd behavior to her friends. 

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When Ophelia returned to the loft later that night, she was met with silence. The sun had set hours ago so she wasn’t that surprised to find everyone sleeping around the living room, everyone but Adeline who was reading War and Peace “just for fun”. Adeline looked up slowly and closed her book with a soft thump, so as not to wake the other sleep deprived teens. 

Adeline signed to Ophelia an 'Are you okay?'  
'I will be.' Ophelia signed back as she quietly left the room to get a few hours of sleep before she had to wake up and have possibly the best and worst day of her life.  
Around 4 hours later and Ophelia was licking the last envelope closed, the bitter tang stinging her papercut tonge. 

Six letters, she picked them up and smoothed out the skirt of the white sundress she had donned earlier, despite the biting cold of fall in Massachusetts.  
Ophelia entered the living room where everyone was sitting around the fire, just as she had hoped. As she entered the room, the quiet morning chatter abruptly stopped as everyone looked at Ophelia, not a creature stirred, not even a mouse. Having to break the tension, Ophelia moved to hand each person their letter. 

“I would like to apologize,” Ophelia started, “I know you have all been worried and I am sorry this has to happen so soon.” the girl continued cautiously. “These last few years have been so fun, and I am tremendously grateful for getting to know all of you.” Ophelia had to stop as her voice broke, taking a second before continuing. “I just can’t continue to stay. I have finally found my true happiness and am ready to pass over. I would stay here with you, but my time was up so long ago. You just have to understand how much I love you all.”

She exited the room and out the door. The fall air filling her lungs. A feeling of peace washing over her. 

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Ophelia stood on the craggy rocks fully encompassed in fog, looking out at the horizon. The biting wind blew a stray hair out from behind her ear, lifting it to float in the wind along with the white sundress she wore. Serene was all Ophelia felt as she walked to the water's edge and peered into the glass like liquid to see nothing at all but the jagged rocks below. 

Ophelia slowly waded barefoot into the water, the icy chill sending bumps up her arms and legs. The soft ripple of the tranquil water now against her knees as she waded farther out from land.

She felt a warm drop of water on her cheek and slowly brought her trembling hand up to wipe it away. She looked to the water to see if it was raining, but the surface was still.  
Lifting her hand to wipe more tears from her face, Ophelia peared up into the grey, overcast sky. She then noticed that snow had started to drift down from the clouds, sparse but noticeable. 

Ophelia didn’t know if this was just some sick joke on God’s part or what, but the absurdity of the situation gave her a small flutter in her chest.   
Another gust of wind hit the girl, washing over her body as if death himself has come to kiss her goodbye. This should have caused panic like it does to many who feel the same eerie chill just before departure but she stood strong and unperturbed, for she had come to accept this ending long ago. 

Catching a lone snowflake on her finger, a deathly cold enters her body, starting in her heart and coursing through her veins.   
Finally, she is free.


End file.
